When seeing a new client for a consultation or a permanent makeup procedure, they naturally have concerns and ask various questions, including an MRI’s safety and permanent cosmetics. I hope to shed some light on this subject and provide valuable information to everyone visiting our site through my blog.
Know that you are your greatest advocate and resource.
Finding a highly qualified and skilled technician for your procedure who is educated about the components of the materials he/she uses is the first step to ensuring you have a beautiful procedure. And there’s no good reason with permanent makeup why you can’t have long-lasting results and not experience any reaction from a future MRI.
The second step, which is just as important as the first, is to inform your doctor and MRI technician of all permanent makeup procedures, their placements, and age. Age is particularly important when talking about any tattoo as the ink, dye, or pigment will settle, fade or disperse over time, leaving you with your final results.
For eyeliner, eyebrows, or lips, your technician most likely used the same “type” of pigment, an inorganic compound. Pigments are formulated with three raw ingredients: distilled water, alcohol, and iron oxide. The first two are easily absorbed by your body and processed naturally, such as a glass of water would. Of course, the final ingredient is a metal and the cause for concern when facing an MRI.
Metals have been present for centuries in the inks and dyes of tattoos, and it is the older tattoos, circa 1930 and 40, and the ink used to place them that have caused the concern for modern-day MRI technology.
Today, combined with the advancement of technology and the FDA’s heavy regulation, most permanent makeup pigments are created in a safe, sterile environment and are FDA approved before being marketed or sold for use with the public.
The truth of the matter is that the particles of iron deposited into the skin are too small to react as a larger piece of metal would. The iron oxide in the pigments used by permanent makeup technicians is similar in size to the iron already on a person’s body.
That being said, I am sure you will be surprised to learn that multiple places on your face have this metal, and you don’t even know it. If you have ever had a filling, you have metal in you. If you are wearing makeup, you have metal on you. Surgeries that have required implants or pins and IUDs are also made of metal or contain some amount of metal.
In theory, to have an MRI, you would need to wash off all your makeup, pull out your fillings, remove that pin in your ankle and extract the IUD to enter the MRI, and come out unscathed safely. Seem a little overboard? We think so too, but there is still a tremendous amount of fear surrounding this subject.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging or MRI has been around as we know it since the early 1990s. A gigantic magnet is circling your body. It is standard protocol to ask every patient to remove any metal from their person; jewelry, clothing, etc.
In the past 20-30 years, the number of people who reported irritation at a tattoo sight is so small that the numbers are not significant enough to outweigh the health benefits of having an MRI.
When performed by a highly-skilled, knowledgeable professional, Permanent makeup is such a blessing and has changed millions of women’s lives.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, however, is technology that has saved the lives of millions of people all over the world and will continue to be a cornerstone procedure in diagnosing problems with the body. Although it is scary the idea of having an MRI after permanent makeup, there is a wealth of information on the internet, and the MRI technicians are there to answer all of your questions.